Seven-figure gifts fuel honors scholarships at Virginia Tech
In the fall of 2014, four Virginia Tech first-year students who have demonstrated exceptional achievements in academics and leadership will enroll as the university’s first undergraduate Stamps Leadership Scholars.
The new scholarship was launched through a generous match of $1.25 million from the Stamps Family Charitable Foundation Inc. to a $1 million gift from Virginia Tech alumnus Dave Calhoun and $250,000 of Virginia Tech funding.
The $2.25 million combined from the foundation and Calhoun represents one of the largest philanthropic infusions to the Virginia Tech University Honors Program to date.
Up to five Stamps Scholars will be awarded full tuition, fees, and room and board at Virginia Tech each year. In addition, each scholar will receive a generous enrichment fund to support experiential learning opportunities. The merit-based scholarships will be renewable for four or five years, depending on the area of study, provided the recipients maintain strong academic, extracurricular, and civic standing.
The 2014 recipients of the scholarships at Virginia Tech are: engineering major Galina Belolipetski of Rockville, Maryland; communication major Jessica King of Stafford, Virginia; university studies major Wolfe Glick of McLean, Virginia; and physics major Moira Miller of Arlington, Virginia.
The students are all also enrolled in the University Honors program, which is headquartered in Hillcrest Hall.
“Our undergraduate experiences were keys to our future successes,” said E. Roe Stamps IV, who, along with his wife, Penny, has established Stamps Scholars programs at 41 universities across the nation, including his alma mater, Georgia Tech, and hers, the University of Michigan.
“Through these scholarships, Penny and I hope to encourage exceptional students to achieve ambitious goals sooner and to realize the impact that they can have on a changing world,” Stamps said. “We are thrilled to include Virginia Tech in our family of schools that are committed to creating outstanding opportunities for America’s very best students and are delivering on that promise inside and outside the classroom.”
Stamps, a South Florida financier, is a venture capitalist and co-founder and managing partner of Summit Partners, in Boston. His wife, a former interior designer, is the president of the Stamps Family Charitable Foundation and has served in a leadership capacity on the boards of a variety of educational, community, and arts organizations.
Calhoun, who earned his bachelor’s in accounting and business in 1979 from what is now the Pamplin College of Business, is senior managing director and head of private equity portfolio operations at Blackstone. He has been a generous supporter of the University Honors program for years, as well as of his alma mater’s business college. Calhoun also co-chaired the university’s last fundraising campaign, which ended in 2011 after raising more than $1.11 billion.
“As a proud alumnus of Virginia Tech, I love hearing about the phenomenal accomplishment of its students, including the tremendously talented ones in the University Honors program,” he said. ”I’m thrilled to be able to make an impact on this important program and that my support has been leveraged to such powerful effect.”
A signature benefit of the Stamps Leadership Scholars program at Virginia Tech is the enrichment fund for each student, which will cover expenses associated with outside-the-classroom educational experiences, such as study abroad, research, or unpaid internships.
“This philanthropic partnership complements our honors program by encouraging transformational experiences, such as research, service learning, and study abroad as a primary component of the scholarship,” said Rachel L. Holloway, vice provost for undergraduate academic affairs. “At Virginia Tech, we challenge the students in the honors program to discover those ideas about which they are truly passionate, and to shape their educational experiences in ways that inspire their potential and create innovation. We want our students to forge a successful future that reflects their strengths and fulfills their passion.”
Dedicated to its motto, Ut Prosim (That I May Serve), Virginia Tech takes a hands-on, engaging approach to education, preparing scholars to be leaders in their fields and communities. As the commonwealth’s most comprehensive university and its leading research institution, Virginia Tech offers 240 undergraduate and graduate degree programs to more than 31,000 students and manages a research portfolio of $513 million. The university fulfills its land-grant mission of transforming knowledge to practice through technological leadership and by fueling economic growth and job creation locally, regionally, and across Virginia.
